Can for tea



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DAVID H. MELOY, WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT.

CAN FOR TEA, SUGAR, 86C.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 51,605, dated December 19, 1865.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, DAVID H. MELOY, of Waterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cans for Tea, &c.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure l represents a longitudinal vertical section of this invention, the line a' 00, Fig. 2, indicating the plane of section. Fig. 2 is a sectional plan or top view of the same.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts. 4

This invention relates to an improvement in that class of cans which are used by grocers and others for the purpose of holding tea, coffee, crackers, and other article s. These cans are usually made of tinned sheet-iron, or sometimes of wood, and they are provided with lids which swing on hinges7 and which, when turned up, remain open and will not close spontaneously. Sometimes articles get betweeny the cover and the edge ofthe can on the hinges, and at other times one or the other of the cans is left open by accident or carelessness, and the value ot' the article in the same is deteriorated by dust accumulating therein or by the partialloss ot' its aroma. These disadvantages are obviated by this present invention, which consists in making the cover ot' such cans to slide up and down on an inclined plane in such a manner that no hinges are needed to attach the same, and the construction of the can is thereby simpliiied, and, furthermore, the cover is rendered self-closing.

A represents a can of that class which are generally used by grocers and other dealers for holding tea, coffee, crackers, and other similar articles. This can Inay be made of wood, but in practice it will be made, by preference, of tinned sheet-iron, and it is or may be provided with a window, c, through which its contents can be seen without opening the can.

One side, B, of the can forms an inclined plane, and it is made movable, so that it can be opened or closed, and that access can be had to the interior of the can. Usually this cover is hinged, but in my can it is provided with two dowel-pins, b,which project from its ends and catch into grooves c in the end pieces of the can. These grooves may be produced in various ways. If the can is made ot' wood,

they can be planed either close to the edge (when one side of the grooves is formed by a strip fastened to the edge of the board) or at a certain distance from the edge, or if the can is made of tinned sheet-iron said grooves can be produced by suitable rollers or other mechanism in a simple and cheap Way. One portion, o', ot' each of these grooves forms an inclined plane, as clearly shown in Fig. 1 ofthe drawings, and if the cover is only partially opened it closes spontaneously as soon as it is left to follow its inherent gravity.

The covers can be attached to the cans in a simple and cheap manner, so as to reduce the post of the article and to increase its durability, and, furthermore, the articles in the can are better protected than by the ordinary covers, which are liable to remain partially open it the hinges become stiff,orif something gets between them and the edge of the can, or which sometimes are left open by carelessness,whereas my covers are rendered self-closing, and, furthermore, they are not liable to close only partially.

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The combination of the horizontal grooves c, inclined grooves c', cover B, and pins b b, all constructed and arranged to operate as and for t-he purposes specified.

DAVID H'. MELoY.

Witnesses M. M. LIVINGSTON, C. L. TOPLIFE. 

